Two Stitchpunks and One's Baby
by Mable
Summary: Nine takes on the task of watching One's son and is determined to get Eight involved with the baby care as well. Eight is less then willing, but why is he so hesitant to touch the baby? And why is Nine so determined to get his assistance? 8x9, mentions of 1x2.


**Mable: This is a request for 27's Fury! I hope I did well because the request was precise and unbelievably adorable! Anyway, I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**Two Stitchpunks and One's Baby**_

One and Two seldom had a night to themselves since the birth of their child. Twenty-One was certainly a wonderful child, but at the same time he was still young enough that the two were afraid to leave him alone for even a second, and it was out of pure desperation that they finally agreed to let Nine watch the baby. He had convinced them that he could watch the young one and knew exactly what to do if anything went wrong, along with other things, such as him wanting to learn about how to handle a child.

They eventually agreed to the agreement and planned a night for just the two of them. The last thing One did was strictly tell Eight to watch the baby as well. Since he was the Guard, made to protect the Leader, then protecting the heir to the throne was somewhat default with the position. Or so One decided. Nine soon was watching as they went down the bucket lift and disappeared into the Library below. The others were also doing their own thing which left Nine and Eight completely alone with Twenty-One. Which was fine with Nine. He was ready to prove that he was mature enough to handle a baby.

The second One and Two left, Nine rushed into the nursery to get the baby, and was thrilled to see that the baby wasn't napping like expected. He was sitting in his crib and grabbing at the blanket sprawled on his lap when Nine entered. Twenty-One was the first Stitchpup, and currently the only on, and was an adorable doll. He was only an eight of a normal Stitchpunk's size and would stay that way for a while, his metal insides only made to expand a little with age, and eventually he would no doubt need to be supplied with larger parts to fit an adult body.

For now, he was fine, as he aged as slowly as any normal baby. His entire body was miniature, with small hands and feet, and fabric that was surprisingly soft. His optics matched One's and were at a slant while his face held a sweet, rounded frame that resembled Two's. He also frequently had a very Two-like smile. Quite evenly tempered, unless provoked extensively in which he turned into a miniature model of his Father, Twenty-One was an easy Stitchling to watch.

Recently he had begun to start talking, but had only been able to make words such as 'Dada' or 'Papa', rarely 'baby' or an attempt at his own name, and somehow also managed to occasionally will a 'hi' or a 'no' when he was particularly not in a sharing mood. Now, though, he was thrilled to see Nine, and reached towards him with a wide smile. Supposed to be napping or not, he wanted out of the crib, and so Nine complied by lifting him up out of it, "Good morning, Twone." He greeted. Twone was a nickname given when Twenty-One had been trying to say his own name and ended in smashing it together.

Both Two and One were so endeared at his efforts that they began to call him Twone at times. Nine especially liked using it because it made him feel close to the baby. He held the infant against his chest and headed back out into the new Sanctuary, built into the Library at a reasonable distance off the ground. Eight was already out in the throne room at his usual post, sharpening his knife and being less than interested with the given task.

Of course Eight took it like he took guarding One; he sat there, didn't intervene unless asked, and when something threatening would come he would take it down. This annoyed Nine a bit as he hadn't exactly wanted to do the job alone. So he decided that he was going to take on the bizarre and grueling task of getting Eight involved with the baby's care, whether he didn't want to or not. Nine considered it something that Eight eventually had to learn anyway and this was the best time, considering the fact that otherwise he would have to learn when he needed it.

"Hey." He casually greeted before walking right up beside Eight who gave him a sideways glance of acknowledgement, preparing to say his own greeting when Twenty-One was shoved into his grasp. "Say hi to Twenty-One." It was almost comical how Eight winced back like he was afraid of the baby being held before him who was currently merely kicking his legs and making little babbling noises. "Hey, Kid." Eight said distantly and Nine exhaled before pulling the baby back, giving an unimpressed look towards the Guard.

Then he crossed to the red carpet before the throne, "I'm setting Twone here, can you watch him while I get his things?" Eight nodded silently, simply sharpening his knife, and Nine went to get the rest of the things. The nursery was a small room made strictly for the baby with a small crib, a chest full of toys, a dresser full of clothes, and mobiles made by the others to hang from the ceiling. One in particular was made out of glass pieces from the stained glass window of the cathedral; Nine remembered watching Five make the piece as a gift for the baby at birth.

Another thing that caught his interest was the dresser which he decided to open. The rows of baby clothes suddenly appealed to him as he knew that it wasn't the warmest day out. Usually, One and Two would dress Twenty-One in the cotton fabric so that he would stay warm, and now Nine wanted to as well. He had a surge of joy as he thought of when he would have children and picked out an outfit that he would have wanted to put on his own baby, subtly finding himself hugging it a bit before regaining compositor and grabbing a few toys, bringing the small outfit along as well.

Once he entered the throne room he was alarmed to see that Twenty-One had moved and was now eagerly crawling towards the corner where Six drew, towards an inkwell. "Eight, you said you were going to watch him!" Nine called across the room, more amused than anything, though. Eight shrugged a bit, "I did. Watched him crawl all the way over there." Nine chuckled a bit at the comment and placed the toys down on the carpet and wandered over to lift Twenty-One.

"Someone's on the run." Nine spoke to Twenty-One before leaning down and lifting him. Twenty-One let out a distressed noise and made grabbing gestures towards Six's room, "You know that you can't get into Six's supplies. You'll get dirty!" He playfully stated and carried Twenty-One back to the carpet where he lifted the one piece outfit. It was a deep green color with blue stitches and an embroidered flower on the front. He then smiled a wider smile when he realized he had a new plan to get the Guard involved.

"Eight, I could use some help dressing the baby." The Guard raised a brow before offering, "Want me to call down to Five?" Nine approached before Eight could protest, "No, I was thinking you could help me. You're already here." Eight couldn't get up fast enough as he had the knife on his lap and didn't want to exactly toss it down onto the ground. Nine handed Eight the outfit. "You hold that open and I'll slide him inside." The Guard didn't want to, it was obvious, but he reluctantly opened the outfit up a bit, "let's just get this over with."

Nine wasn't very pleased with Eight's comment, even when the tone sounded so fearful, and lowered the baby down above the clothing. Unfortunately, Twenty-One had other ideas, and lifted his legs instead of allowing them to go into the clothing. "No, no. Put your legs down." Nine tried, using one hand to push the Stitchpup's legs down only to have them pull back in again. By now Eight was beginning to chuckle a little in amusement and Nine was a little pleased while growing increasingly confused on how to get the baby to get dressed.

Eventually he did fit the tiny body into the clothes and snapped the tiny snaps to hold it closed. Twenty-One wasn't exactly happy to have his feet and legs restrained and kicked them in protest, letting out soft noises of near annoyance, and Nine took him into his arms. He held him with a wide smile and looked to Eight who seemed to move back to sharpening his knife. Nine was a bit discouraged, but the baby was growing restless and so he crossed back to the carpet to begin playing with him.

Twenty-One was easy to pacify. He loved his blocks and loved to stack them in little towers. He especially loved to tell others where to put the blocks. He handed Nine a block and then touched the top of the current tower repeating 'op', which Nine guessed was supposed to communicate for him to put the block down. Nine did so and smiled when he saw the baby grow excited at it. At one point, Twenty-One decided that he wasn't happy with only one playmate and turned towards Eight.

Offering him a block like he had to Nine, Twenty-One expected him to take it, but Eight didn't seem to notice. After a few more seconds Twenty-One grew impatient and launched the block out of his hand and at Eight. Nine burst into laughter as it bounced off of Eight's leg and hit the ground. Eight didn't seem as amused, but brushed off the incident, and Nine was again a little less than pleased with how quickly he brushed off the baby. He decided to make another attempt, a final attempt, and spoke, "Come sit with us. We could use a third."

"I'm fine where I am." Eight shrugged off and Nine took the comment in a very offensive way. A flash of anger overtook and he made sure that the baby was secure before crossing to where Eight was, standing before him, glaring at him. Eight wasn't exactly sure why Nine was glaring and didn't exactly want to figure out, "What?" The zippered male tried keeping his voice down, "Why won't you send some time with him? He's right there and you don't even make the slightest effort!" Eight quickly dismissed it with, "I'm doing something. I'm guarding him."

Nine quickly followed with, "From what? Yourself?" Eight was starting to become a little offended and pointed out. "You were the one who was supposed to watch him, not me."

"That doesn't matter!" Nine snapped, "Don't you even care?! He wants your attention and you won't do anything! You act like you don't care at all!" Eight raised his brows, "At least I'm not acting like you've been." The burlap one was taken aback and growled, "What does that mean?" Eight put his knife to the ground and answered as bluntly as possible, "Let's start with last night; I asked you if you wanted to… 'you know', and you nearly ate my head off. It was like I was sleeping with One."

"That was because I was tired and you asked me to do 'that' _again! _Sometimes I think the only reason we sleep together is because of 'that'! Don't you even wonder if that's going to, I don't know, cause something to happen?! Oh no, you don't care, Eight doesn't care about anything except his knife and One!" Nine was becoming more enraged every second and Eight was growing increasingly annoyed as well with Nine's yelling. "No, you're acting insane. How did we get to me not paying attention to _One's _baby to me being in bed too much?"

"That doesn't make any sense at all! I didn't say anything about you being in- You're right, this is about Twenty-One. What if he was your baby!? Would you do the same thing you're doing now?! Of course you would! Nothing!" Before Nine could continue, Eight's optics darted behind him and his angry look turned alarmed. Nine spun around as he realized that this wasn't good and sputtered at what he saw. Twenty-One had crawled away from his toys and over to the inkwell. Nine looked back just in time to see Twenty-One pull the inkwell until it tipped over on him, spilling ink down his front.

"Twenty-One!" Nine cried out in horror before reeling. He couldn't help it and Twenty-One's head flipped over to stare at Nine. He wasn't like a normal Stitchpunk who would accept an apology or be moderately offended. Twenty-One only stared for a few seconds before his face scrunched together and his optics widened from their normal slants. The first wail was the worst and Nine immediately forgot Eight and rushed forward. "I'm sorry! I'm not angry, Twone, it's okay!"

He scooped the baby into his grasp and began to slowly rock him in his grasp to no avail. Twenty-One was in a fit of crying and nothing Nine could do was going to ease his choking sobs even the slightest. "I have to get him more clothes. Here." Eight didn't expect to get a handful of crying Stitchling, but couldn't protest and Nine literally ran to get another suit for the baby. Eight didn't like the crying. Eight didn't like any crying, in fact, it caused him to feel strange and distressed, so he certainly didn't want to hear the baby crying.

"Come on, Twone, it's alright. It's over." He tried to coax, almost lightly shaking the baby in an attempt to soothe it. It didn't help at all so Eight tried the rocking method that Nine had been using. He watched the door, but it seemed that Nine was taking his sweet time in the other room, and Eight was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or, that was, until the baby suddenly decided to randomly stop crying. Not Eight felt even more unease as he found those optics, the ones that looked so much like his Leader's, staring into him.

He reached down and grabbed the first thing he could from the group of Twenty-One's toys and handed it to the younger. It was just a block, nothing more, but Twenty-One took it and began to fondle it before looking up to Eight, releasing a sweet smile. Eight would only admit that he was relieved that twenty-One was no longer crying, and not admit that he actually felt good actually appeasing the baby. He was scared to touch him, but he wanted to, and his free hand clenched a little. It was a mixed decision of whether or not he actually dared to do it.

That was when he noticed that Nine was there and looked a bit happier than Eight would expect. He stayed quiet though and approached so that the two could redress the infant. This time Eight allowed himself to be a bit more helpful and only while sliding the infant into the new outfit, this one orange, did he speak. "I've broken things by touching them, Nine." Eight admitted and the other looked at him in clear confusion. So he continued with his point.

"I've broken dolls trying to help Two get parts. I've broken plates when I'm trying to carry them. I break my own weapons when I'm trying to use them. But I'm not going to give myself the chance to break him." He gestured to Twenty-One who was staring at his covered feet with a scrutinizing look, "Because other things don't matter. Glass and blades, and dolls don't matter, but he does. I would never forgive myself if I ended up hurting him because I did something stupid."

"It's okay, Eight." Nine spoke, "It's alright to be scared. He is small, he is fragile, but I don't think you'd ever let anything break him." Then he got a distressed look, "I… Well… I'm sorry for acting so weird. You see, there's something I…" He trailed off as Twenty-One began to release a few babbled words and smiled once again, "You'd think we'd be able to get him to say our names." He suggested, then gave a small smile, "Maybe now that you've picked him up you'll, I don't know, at least sit a little closer?"

Eight was a little confused on the request itself, but decided that his knife was sharp enough and that Nine clearly wanted him to help, so he agreed. Not much changed, he just sat against the wall beside Nine as Nine interacted with the baby, but he did occasionally give more effort. It was clear that Eight didn't exactly know how to handle the baby and at every turn Nine tried to help. He showed him Twenty-One's way of getting others to participate, sorted out what few of the babbles he could make out, and they continued like this until their job was suddenly halted.

Nine wouldn't deny that he noticed the baby wanting to crawl into his lap a bit more than usual and could only watch as the baby eventually leaned against his front and fell fast asleep. Nine held the infant with a sweet smile and rocked him gently before gasping when he was slid back into Eight's lap. The Guard rested his lips to the back of Nine's neck, murmuring sweet nothings, and Nine felt his body fill with warmth. He turned back as well as he could and let their lips meet. He could only feel his mood soar as Eight overtook Nine's mouth completely.

It didn't last too long before they pulled apart, leaving both smiling, and Nine released a request. "Maybe we should put Twenty-One down for a nap and we can… We can talk." The tone was quite heavy, dripping with adoration and need, and Eight was more than willing to agree. Nine stood and carried the baby out of the room while Eight stalled himself by grabbing the things that were left sprawled around the throne room. He then entered the nursery to find Nine staring into the crib, watching Twenty-One who he had now tucked under the blankets.

"You okay?" Eight asked, noticing the melancholy tone, and Nine looked over slowly, "Actually, Eight, I'm not." He pulled back from the crib and sulked over to the Guard, "Eight, there's… there's something I have to tell you." He said softly, unable to look at the Guard, "There's a reason I've been acting so weird… And why I've been trying to get you to spend more time with Twenty-One." Eight set down the things on Twenty-One's dresser and approached. It was obvious that Nine was distressed and Eight figured out that something was bothering him.

"Nine, whatever it is, I'm not going to be upset." He insisted, putting his hands on Nine's shoulders, massaging them. That's when Nine looked up to him and spoke, "Eight," He smiled a little, "There's not going to be just one baby in the house anymore. There's a new baby." Eight paused before smiling, "I knew there was some reason they were running to get a night alone." Naturally, he assumed that it was One and Two who were planning to have another child. Nine chuckled at the comment, "No, Eight, not them…."

He decided to try something else and cautiously took one of Eight's hands in his own before lowering it to press against his belly, "Remember when One said… That if we kept soul bonding that something was going to wind up happening?" The look on Eight's face was priceless and exactly what Eight expected. Absolutely taken aback as though he never saw it coming and Nine burst out laughing at it in pure joy, "I'm pregnant!" With that, the Guard suddenly took Nine into his grasp and held him tightly, holding him close.

"You sure? There's really a baby?" It was as though Eight's sudden disinterest in babies that had changed into acceptance for babies turned into sudden excitement. Nine was immediately relieved at the positive response and nodded against Eight's chest, "Yeah, that's why I've been acting so weird. We're going to be parents!" Suddenly all of the hardships from today came back to light and Nine quoted, "We're done for." He joked and Eight retorted, "It's two against one. I think we can handle it." Then he pressed his lips to Nine's, "I love you. Creator, I love you."

Nine felt his body tingle in warmth and he randomly began to cry. Eight flinched a bit and Nine stopped him, "No, it's fine. Happy tears." He insisted and everything was thrilled. That's when there was the sound of talking from the throne room, "They're back." Eight pointed out and Nine quickly kissed him again, "Here's the plan. You sneak the baby's dirty clothes out and I'll wash them later. One never has to know what happened." Eight chuckled a bit and grabbed the stained cloth, "He'll figure it out eventually. I'll give myself up and you can save the baby."

His hand twitched a bit as he glanced downwards and Nine looked down, "There's nothing there except light, but would you like to feel?" There was a small pause before Eight reached forward, which Nine pressed to his zipper. Really, Eight couldn't feel anything, but his body and soul told him there was something there. He spoke, "it's going to get everything. Everything, more than even Twone, I'm giving it." Nine smiled wide at this, "I know you will. You're going to be a great Dad. I know that you won't let anything happen, not let anything hurt it."

The voices were getting closer so Eight spoke, "Let me smuggle this out before they come in looking for him." He claimed Nine's mouth a final time before beginning to leave. On his way out, Nine quietly spoke out, making sure not to awaken Twenty-One, "Oh, and Eight? Big Guy? Two said something else you may find pretty interesting." Eight looked back at this, not sure what could be more interesting than a baby, and Nine added in, "They're twins."

It took Eight a few seconds, then he realized that Nine meant they were having twins, two babies. Then he was thrilled.

Then he realized that this meant there were actually two babies, two separate beings, and then he felt a little light headed.

Then he felt the floor coming at him.

_**FIN**_

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**Mable: Oh! A quick message for my other two requesters. Mandy; your request fic will be ready shortly! Allyson: Yours will as well, but if there's any specific couples you would like there is still a chance for me to put them in. Not that I'm out of ideas or anything, I just want to make sure I get you exactly what you'd like. ^-^ I hope everyone enjoyed, especially 27's Fury!**


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